Before the opening of today's government working session Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan commented on the 50th anniversary of slain military commander and government leader Vazgen Sargsyan, gunned down in the 1999 attack on the parliament. Below are excerpts of his comments. Today is the birthday of Vazgen Sargsyan. He would have turned 50 today. National hero and government and political activist, Vazgen Sarsgsyan was a shining personality and his contribution to our government and in particular to the creation of the armed forces is irrefutable. He was a bold and brave man who never hid behind others and always assumed the most difficult problems of our people on his shoulders and resolved them successfully. It seems that we could pause for a moment and reflect on whether we have culled any lessions from his death and the deaths of our colleagues. Do we comprehend that continued intolerance, hate and ill-will merely serve to prepare new ground for new killings? Do we feel the responsibility of shaping an environment of tolerance? I am fully aware of the fact that it is the government and the authorities that are first and foremost responsible to mold an environment of cooperation and conciliation for the simple reason that we control the state levers to shape such an atmosphere. Of course there is a need for criticism and free speech in order that the government takes stock of its shortcomings. But when that criticism respects no normal bounds, when we open the daily papers and see not criticism but vile, rank smelling vindictive and extremist evaluations that have nothing to do with reality and whose only aim is to personally besmirch and insult, we understand that we have a long road ahead of us. This evil and intolerance is forging new bullets, there will be new deaths, if we do not finally and radically change the situation at hand. I have been a representative of the radical opposition for five years and consider myself personally guilty for many things and I implore the forgiveness of our opposition leaders for our shortcomings and my personal errors. We must be tolerant of one another and should not burn the bridges of cooperation. The history of the Armenian people shows that we only achieve success when we are able to maintain a spirit of cooperation.